You are here: Home/Behaviour/ Confession: My Cat Drinks From The Toilet…And Other Strange Places

Aug 27 2016

Confession: My Cat Drinks From The Toilet…And Other Strange Places

Hands up everyone who lives with a cat that drinks from the toilet. Maybe it’s not the toilet that’s their receptacle of choice but rather drinking from a running tap, or licking from the kitchen sink or shower recess. The latter is Pussa’s go-to place, preferably while I remain in residence in said shower, and she has pushed the door in on me with a head full of shampoo. So what is the cause of this behaviour, and should it be something for Pet Parents to worry about?

Pussa is a drink-from-the-shower-recess kinda gal.

Reasons Why Your Cat Drinks From Weird Places

Your cat might prefer the cooler temperature of the water from places like the toilet compared to what’s in their water bowl. A similar rationale applies if they like drinking from your glass;

If they are drinking from the kitchen sink, shower floor or directly from a running tap they are probably enjoying the greater oxygen content than that which is in their water bowl. Water bowl water will often have been sitting around for a period of time and not only will that water taste stale but it’s probably got hair, dust, and any other number of bits of goodness knows what floating around in it;

They might be considering the toilet as somewhere to play. This could be occurring if they are intrigued by the waters movement during flushing and they are lacking other environmentally stimulating toys;

Puss cat’s water bowl type and size can affect their inclination to drink from it. If the bowl is too small their whiskers will press on the sides which might be painful for some cats. Also the material from which the bowl is made will impact on the temperature of the water. Plastic bowls will be the least effective in keeping water cool, while porcelain will keep it cooler longer.

So the question is, should you try to curb this behaviour, or just consider it to be a personality quirk and use it as a source of amusement for yourself? I can see the danger in drinking from the toilet bowl since there will be both bacteria and residue from cleaning products lurking around. There’s the potential for toxicity from both those sources. In most cases anything that puss cat shouldn’t be ingesting that’s in the kitchen sink or shower are probably highly diluted and of insufficient quantity to be toxic (unless you have strange bathing habits in which case I suggest you keep these to yourself and avoid letting Favourite Feline into the bathroom under any circumstance). But drinking straight from the tap? Yeah, why not. However, to put the brakes on these feline eccentricities you can take a few steps to prevent this behaviour.

How To Stop Your Cat Drinking From Weird Places

Keep the toilet lid closed. Until which time your cat can pull up the lid, and I don’t dismiss Pussa’s ability to master this skill for one moment, this will be 100% effective;

Change the water in the water bowl at least daily, preferably twice a day in-conjunction with meal times;

Try some different water bowls. Maybe the current one is too narrow, too deep or the wrong material for the Cat Prince or Princess you have in residence;